The Sole Remark Likely to Have Been Made by Benjamin Jowett about the Mural Paintings at the Oxford Union 1916

Curator: This watercolor work, now in the Tate, is by Sir Max Beerbohm, aptly titled "The Sole Remark Likely to Have Been Made by Benjamin Jowett about the Mural Paintings at the Oxford Union." It's utterly charming, isn’t it? Editor: Utterly. And rather… underwhelming? It evokes a peculiar sense of early 20th-century intellectual disillusionment, seeing these grand Pre-Raphaelite aspirations juxtaposed with such understated commentary. Curator: I imagine Beerbohm relishing the irony. The muralists, so earnest, then Jowett, the pragmatic Master of Balliol, probably offering the driest observation imaginable. Editor: The scale here is intriguing, too. These titans of academia are rendered almost childlike before the ambition of the murals, suggesting a critique of power structures and artistic pretension. Curator: Perhaps. Or maybe Beerbohm just found the whole affair rather amusing, a delicious little satire. Editor: Either way, it leaves us pondering the silent judgements passed in halls of learning and the enduring power—or lack thereof—of artistic movements. Curator: Exactly. A wonderfully droll observation, still ringing true today.